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Couple celebrates 72 years of bliss

On the way home from their wedding ceremony, Bob and Fern Allison got waylaid by not one but three flat tires. And, it being 1936, Bob had to use a hand pump each time to get the newlyweds back on the road.

In the seven-plus decades since, things have gone relatively smoother, the Allisons say.

On Aug. 15, the Sequim residents celebrated their 72nd anniversary.

A pair of Midwesterners hailing from Kansas and Missouri, respectively, the two wed in West Plains, Mo., but not without a little assistance; while Bob was 18 and of legal age, 17-year-old Fern needed - and got - permission from her parents.

The couple moved to California in 1939 and lived there for 50 years, first near Fresno, then Santa Cruz and then

Jamestown. Both worked for about 25 years as school bus drivers.

In 1989, they moved to Sequim city proper, changing houses only when the state needed their property to make way for the U.S. Highway 101 bypass.

Now, instead of driving children around on buses, Bob drives Fern around on a two-seated scooter that tops out at 10 mph - when they're not weeding the garden or building windmills for the backyard.

"We've just lived within our means," says Bob, now 91. "It's been a very pleasant 72 years."

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